Turkey is hardly a press freedom paradise, but what makes
the country so exciting for journalists is the amount of news it generates on
any given day. The domestic story is huge, with near-daily street protests, the
booming economy beginning to sag, and the prospect of regional conflict looming
with Syria. And Istanbul is a base for the international press covering not
only Turkey but also Syria, Iraq and Egypt.

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New
York, July 25, 2013--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that
numerous Turkish journalists, including the leading columnist Yavuz Baydar, have
been fired or forced to resign from news outlets in apparent retaliation for
their independent coverage of anti-government demonstrations that swept the
country.

For the past several months, CPJ staff has been researching
pervasive press freedom problems in Turkey, including the criminal prosecution
of journalists, the use of governmental pressure to engender self-censorship,
and the presence of a repressive legal structure. This month, CPJ will release
an in-depth report on Turkey's press freedom crisis. In advance of our report, we
are publishing this illuminating interview with Yavuz Baydar, ombudsman for the
Turkish newspaper Sabah and columnist
for Today's Zaman. The interview was
conducted via email.